Hey everyone! 🌍 Exciting new discoveries are changing what we thought we knew about our planet! Scientists have found fresh evidence that challenges old theories and reveals surprising secrets hidden beneath our feet. From ancient landscapes buried deep underground to unexpected climate clues, these findings are rewriting history. 🌿🔬 Want to see how Earth’s past could reshape our future? Don't miss this mind-blowing journey into the unknown—watch now! 🚀 Animation is created by Bright Side.
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00:00Antarctica, a snowy world of about minus 46 degrees Fahrenheit, covered in ice for millions
00:07of years.
00:08But it wasn't always this way.
00:10Scientists just found something buried deep beneath the seafloor that shouldn't exist.
00:15Tiny golden droplets of amber.
00:19This means that Antarctica was once teeming with life and thick with trees.
00:24But something happened to it.
00:26That could reshape the way we see our own future.
00:31Antarctica has been a land of howling winds for millions of years.
00:35No tree can grow here today.
00:37But scientists who studied those lands decided to drill deep beneath the Antarctic surface.
00:44They went thousands of feet below the ice, pulling up ancient layers of sediment.
00:49And there, trapped in time, they found tiny pieces of golden amber.
00:55Amber is basically fossilized tree resin.
00:59It's found all over the world, often with perfectly preserved pieces of ancient life.
01:05Insects trapped mid-flight, pollen frozen in time.
01:09Entire tiny ecosystems can be locked inside golden droplets.
01:13In every continent, but not in Antarctica.
01:16Until now.
01:19They discovered tiny specks from 0.5 to 1 millimeter in size.
01:25Smaller than a grain of sand, but with huge significance.
01:29This droplet had once oozed from the bark of a tree about 90 million years ago.
01:35What's even wilder, amber is only produced by certain types of trees.
01:40The ones that grow in humid, temperate rainforests and jungles.
01:45That's when the realization hit.
01:48Antarctica used to be a rainforest!
01:52Those tiny flecks of amber, clearly seen only under a microscope, tell us a vivid story
01:58of a living and breathing ecosystem.
02:01Around 90 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period, when dinosaurs ruled the Earth, Antarctica
02:08could have been covered in lush, swampy forests filled with towering conifers, ferns, and
02:13ancient plants.
02:16Some of the fragments showed signs of damage.
02:19That means the trees that produced them had been injured, perhaps by wildfires or parasites.
02:26Though despite that, and despite the fact it spent millions of years on the seafloor,
02:32this amber was almost perfectly preserved.
02:35Solid, transparent, and free of cracks.
02:38Normally, amber buried under extreme pressure and heat just crashes over time.
02:44But this piece, it survived!
02:46That means other pieces could survive as well, and we might find more of them on the ocean
02:51floor.
02:52But this wasn't the first sign that Antarctica had once been a different place entirely.
02:59It started in 2017.
03:01A team of scientists drilled deep into the seabed near Pine Island Glacier on Antarctica's
03:07west coast.
03:09They pulled up sediment cores, long cylindrical samples of Earth that had been buried for
03:14millions of years.
03:16And it was insane.
03:18Inside these layers they found fossilized roots, pollen, spores, traces of an ancient
03:23forest that had once thrived here.
03:26And that's exactly what they'd been studying ever since then.
03:30In order not to damage anything, they had to spend years of hard work, breaking down
03:35the sediment into thousands of tiny pieces, and scanning them all under fluorescent microscopes.
03:42The same team also found another piece of the puzzle back in 2020.
03:47They found more sedimentary samples from the ocean floor that pointed to a land of dense
03:52trees, rivers, and wetlands.
03:55A world that looked more like the Pacific Northwest, or New Zealand.
04:00But why was Antarctica so warm back then?
04:03Well, that's all because of the atmosphere.
04:07Ninety million years ago, Earth's carbon dioxide levels were terrifyingly high.
04:12It was literally one of the warmest periods in history, with temperatures soaring even
04:17at the poles.
04:18Think about it, Antarctica had no ice caps.
04:23Instead it could have had buzzing insects and maybe even dinosaurs wandering through
04:27its forests.
04:29But in order to learn what happened to them, the team has to find more evidence.
04:35Antarctica really is a place full of mysteries.
04:38It's hard to study because it's covered in snow and ice so much that we don't even know
04:42its true shape and size.
04:45Some parts of the ice sheet are over 3 miles thick, half the depth of the Mariana Trench,
04:51the deepest trench on Earth.
04:53Luckily, snow has a great quality.
04:56It can freeze things in time perfectly.
04:59Layer by layer, year after year, it buries nature's past like a time capsule.
05:05At first, fresh snow is soft and shifts easily in the wind, full of air.
05:10But as more snow piles on top, it compresses, squeezing out the air pockets and hardening
05:15into dense ice.
05:18This freezing pressure locks everything inside.
05:21It traps everything in the ice, and it's hard to imagine how it's going to be in the future.
05:27But it's not as easy as it looks.
05:31This freezing pressure locks everything inside.
05:34It traps ancient plants, animals, and even entire landscapes.
05:39And they literally get frozen in time, because the extreme cold slows down decay.
05:46It stops bacteria growth, preventing rot, and keeping things almost perfectly intact
05:52for thousands, sometimes even millions of years.
05:57That's exactly what's going on in Antarctica.
06:00Scientists have to literally scan it all the way down this snow in order to find what
06:04this place looked like millions of years ago.
06:08What they've found is an entire lost world, buried under miles of ice.
06:14It was beneath the thickest ice of East Antarctica, near the Aurora and Schmidt subglacial basins.
06:21The weight of the ice has been so immense for so long that it actually protected the
06:26land from erosion.
06:29Scientists call it the Ghost of Antarctica's Landscape, and it's nothing like the smooth,
06:35flat wasteland seen from above.
06:37They've found rivers that once flowed freely, now frozen in place, valleys carved by water,
06:44even three massive, sharply peaked hills.
06:47But what are they?
06:51To understand that, we need to go even further back in time, to the era when Antarctica was
06:57still part of a lost supercontinent.
07:02Hundreds of millions of years ago, the land we now call Antarctica was part of Gondwana,
07:08an enormous supercontinent that included South America.
07:11Africa, India, Australia, and Antarctica all fused together.
07:18But as Earth's tectonic plates slowly drifted apart, Gondwana broke into pieces.
07:25Antarctica was ripped apart, its land stretched and fractured.
07:30The massive ice sheets that formed later covered these broken landmasses, preserving them like
07:36frozen fossils.
07:38As the ice shifted and melted over time, valleys formed, and ancient rivers likely carried
07:44water toward a coast that was hundreds of miles away from where it is now.
07:49But that's not the only thing Antarctica has hidden.
07:53If you stripped away the ice, you wouldn't see a smooth, empty continent.
07:57You'd see a super dramatic landscape, towering mountains, deep valleys, even fiery volcanoes.
08:07In West Antarctica, at least 138 volcanoes are buried under the ice.
08:12One of them, Mount Erebus, is still active.
08:15And inside, it has warm volcanic caves where you can walk in a t-shirt.
08:20Oh, and if it wasn't weird enough, Erebus is also spewing out gold.
08:26Yep, the actual tiny specks of gold from deep within the Earth.
08:31Scientists believe this happens because magma, the superheated, semi-molten rock beneath
08:36the Earth's surface, carries liquid gold with it as it rises.
08:41Every single day, Erebus releases about 0.2 pounds of it.
08:46That's worth around $6,000 per day.
08:49In a year, that adds up to 64 pounds, or more than $2 million, floating into the sky.
08:56Unfortunately, before we grab shovels, we gotta remember that those are just microscopic
09:02particles.
09:03They're often smaller than 60 micrometers, thinner than a human hair.
09:08Not even mentioning that they're scattered around, up to 620 miles away from the volcano
09:13itself.
09:14Finding them is nearly impossible.
09:18But that just shows that even in such a harsh place that looks just like a white desert,
09:22there are still many fascinating mysteries to discover.
09:27For example, somehow, life still clings there.
09:31In 2017, scientists drilled deep beneath the ice of the Ross Ice Shelf looking for water.
09:38But they found something fantastic instead.
09:41A river, hidden beneath 1,640 feet of ice, running through the dark.
09:48And inside it, hundreds of tiny shrimp-like creatures.
09:52They swarmed around the camera, blocking the lens, welcoming the scientists.
09:57In deep caves beneath the ice, DNA evidence has also shown traces of moss, algae, and
10:03possibly even unknown tiny animals.
10:07Well, turns out, even in one of the harshest places on Earth, life finds a way.
10:13And who knows what else we'll discover in the South Pole.
10:22Scientists discovered something Atlantis-like near Australia.
10:26There used to be an entire continent that's now underwater.
10:29Here's what happened to it.
10:33Around 70,000 years ago, during the last Ice Age, there was a huge landmass called Sahul.
10:39It was located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean.
10:42This ancient supercontinent connected what we now know as Australia, New Guinea, Tasmania,
10:47and the Aru Islands into one giant piece of land.
10:51Imagine lush tropical rainforests surrounded by beautiful mountains.
10:55Sahul's tallest mountains were in the New Guinea Highlands, with peaks reaching over
11:0013,000 feet.
11:03This beautiful place was home to a variety of unique animals, most of which were pouched
11:09creatures.
11:10But back then, they weren't just koalas and kangaroos.
11:13Sahul was filled with different types of grazers, burrowers, scavengers, and predators.
11:18It was home to a huge Diprotodon, a powerful hunter Thiasoleo, and a horrifying Megalania,
11:25a creature that's much larger than any living lizard today.
11:29It was a unique place because the rest of the world was filled with placental animals
11:33at the time like wolves, elephants, and humans.
11:36In Sahul, the only normal mammals were bats and rodents.
11:41But not all its parts were the same.
11:43The Timor, Arafura, and Carpentaria regions were covered by hot savanna and dry forests.
11:50It looked kinda like modern Australia, hot air deserts with scrubland, steppe, and temperate
11:56forests along the eastern coast.
12:01Back then, people were migrating all across the world.
12:05They made an incredible journey from Southeast Asia to Sahul and first arrived here from
12:0960,000 to 45,000 years ago.
12:12They mostly traveled by foot and crossed the sea using bamboo rafts and simple boats.
12:18They came there from an ancient landmass called Sunda, which includes parts of Southeast Asia.
12:24They traveled across a series of islands known as Walasia and eventually spread across Sahul.
12:31And it wasn't a small journey.
12:33Sahul was huge, around 4.1 million square miles.
12:37That's bigger than the USA or Canada.
12:39It stretched from the equator to around the southern part of New Zealand.
12:44So they arrived in what is now Australia and became Australia's first people.
12:50Scientists think that Sahul had a population of half a million.
12:54We've discovered cave paintings that date back around 40,000 years.
12:58Here's a hunting scene depicting an anoa, or miniature buffalo, facing figures of humans
13:04and animals.
13:06Researchers are trying to figure out how these early settlers moved across Sahul and where
13:10we might find archaeological evidence of their journey.
13:14To do this, they created a landscape evolution model.
13:18The simulation showed how Sahul changed between 75,000 and 35,000 years ago.
13:24It showed potential migration routes and archaeological sites.
13:29Humans likely traveled along coastlines and rivers.
13:34But how did Sahul get submerged off the coast of Australia, similar to the mythical Atlantis?
13:40During the last Ice Age, much of the Earth's water was locked up in large ice sheets and
13:45glaciers.
13:46The sea levels were much lower than they are today.
13:49After that, the global temperatures increased.
13:52The ice sheets melted and the sea levels rose, flooding the land bridges that once
13:56connected different parts of Sahul together.
13:59About 8,000 years ago, New Guinea separated from mainland Australia.
14:04And then, about 6,000 years ago, Tasmania did the same.
14:08We still can explore the underwater parts of Sahul thanks to new technology.
14:14Divers explore and collect samples directly from the ocean floor.
14:19Underwater drones can go to places that are too deep or dangerous for humans to explore.
14:24And with sonar mapping, scientists use sound waves to create maps of the ocean floor.
14:30It's like using an echo to see what's underwater.
14:33The sound waves bounce off the seabed and come back, helping us create a picture of
14:38what it looks like.
14:40Deep underwater, archaeologists have found stone tools and other artifacts.
14:44They also discovered fossils of animals like Diprotodon and Thylassolio.
14:50By studying the underwater terrain of Sahul, they learned about the ancient rivers, lakes
14:55and coastlines that existed during the Ice Age.
14:58But Sahul isn't the only underwater continent.
15:05Sahul isn't the only hidden gem of Southeast Asia.
15:08Take Sundaland, a place made up of Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and some other islands.
15:15This place was crazy huge during the Ice Age, but now almost fully underwater.
15:20Almost but not entirely.
15:22The parts above the ocean are teeming with life.
15:26If you like birds, check this place out.
15:28It has almost a fifth of the world's bird species.
15:32You can spot colorful birds like the Java hawk eagle and the Bali starling among the
15:37lush forests.
15:38It's also a home to a fourth of Earth's fish species.
15:42Sundaland's waters are a haven for marine life.
15:45Even the most exotic animals like the Asian arowanas.
15:50It's also a treasure trove of flowers.
15:53That's where you can find Rafflesia and Titan Arum, the world's largest flowers.
15:59This makes it very similar to Zealandia.
16:02Zealandia is a long narrow piece of land about half the size of Australia.
16:06It broke from Antarctica about a hundred million years ago.
16:10Just like Sundaland, it isn't fully underwater.
16:14Seven percent of it stayed above sea level.
16:16This sticking out little piece is what we now call New Zealand, along with Stewart Island
16:22and some smaller islands.
16:24These pieces of Zealandia are lush and warm.
16:28They're packed with volcanoes, mountain ranges, beautiful natural geysers, and hot springs.
16:34Local people, Maori, use these hot springs for cooking.
16:38People place corn, eggs, and vegetables in baskets and lower them directly in the hot
16:43springs.
16:44Sometimes they cook food in a pit oven using heated rocks.
16:51Another hidden world is known as Argoland.
16:54This mysterious landmass was once part of Australia, back when dinosaurs chilled around.
17:00It drove scientists crazy for decades.
17:03They knew it existed because it left a huge stretch on the ancient seafloor.
17:07The Argo Abyssal Plain.
17:10About 155 million years ago, it broke off from Australia, saying bye-bye.
17:16The continent drifted somewhere north, and when it reached Southeast Asia, it just vanished.
17:23Scientists had no idea where it went, but recently, they finally found its remains.
17:28Turns out, poor Argoland's lower parts started drowning into the Sunda Trench, a horrifyingly
17:34deep oceanic pit.
17:36The earth's crust sunk into the mantle.
17:39Meanwhile, the upper parts of Argoland were pushed upward, grabbing the younger rocks
17:43on land.
17:45Because of this, Argoland broke apart into a bunch of smaller pieces.
17:49These pieces formed parts of Borneo, Java, Sulawesi, and other regions.
17:54The remains are buried under Indonesia and Myanmar.
18:00Imagine a colossal landmass the size of Greenland, Greater Adria.
18:06Its journey began about 240 million years ago when it broke away from the supercontinent
18:11Gondwana.
18:13It started moving north, and after 100 million years of enjoying the warm seas, it suddenly
18:18crashed into Europe and shattered into pieces.
18:22Most of these pieces went deep into the earth's mantle, but some were scraped off and became
18:28part of mountain ranges like the Alps.
18:31Today, the remnants of Greater Adria are scattered across more than 30 countries, from Spain
18:36to Iran.
18:37That's why they're hard to look for.
18:42Seychelles was also once part of Gondwana.
18:45Yep, these idyllic islands are sitting atop of the ancient continent.
18:49We know a lot about it because of its fascinating granite outcrops.
18:54A hundred years ago, Alfred Wegener discovered continental drift, but no one believed him.
19:00These granite outcrops helped him prove that he's not crazy and that tectonic plates really
19:04are moving.
19:06The Seychelles broke off from India and Madagascar and eventually became a sad loner in the Indian
19:12Ocean.
19:13This probably happened because of some insanely active volcanoes in the Deccan Traps.
19:19But now the islands are home to unique species both on land and in the coral reefs nearby.
19:28Mauritia broke off from India after the dinosaur wiping.
19:32Along its journey, it stretched into a long ribbon-like shape and also broke into pieces.
19:37Now it's all scattered beneath the Indian Ocean.
19:41Scientists stumbled upon this lost land by studying tiny ancient crystals called zircons.
19:47These zircons are like time capsules.
19:50They date back an astonishing 660 million to 2 billion years.
19:55That's even older than Mauritius itself!
19:58These ancient crystals hinted that there's another Atlantis somewhere nearby.
20:03Turns out there are hidden continents all around the world, and maybe we'll discover
20:08more of them in the future!
20:13Do you know how many continents there are on Earth?
20:16That's an easy one, seven.
20:19But wait a second, aren't Europe and Asia one large continent, Eurasia?
20:24It looks so when you look at the world map.
20:26Well, scientists think differently.
20:28They don't just look at bodies of land sticking out of the sea.
20:32Geoscientists study the types of rock that continents are made from.
20:36When you see the world from their perspective, the number of continents actually increases.
20:40Yes, they are not a myth.
20:43Lost continents exist, or at least they used to.
20:46They are hiding under other landmasses.
20:49Peekaboo!
20:50Researchers have recently discovered one continent just like that.
20:54It's called Greater Adria.
20:55Sound familiar?
20:56Yes, it has something to do with the Adriatic Sea.
21:01This lost continent is completely buried under Europe.
21:04It collided with Europe and started to sink under it a long time ago.
21:08Today, it lies beneath Italy, Greece, and the Baltics.
21:12Its size and even shape match that of Greenland, the world's largest island.
21:17But how did geoscientists find Greater Adria?
21:20It's no longer visible, but it left some clues.
21:24Parts of it were embedded in the Alps.
21:26Other chunks were incorporated into present-day Italy and Croatia, on the other side of the
21:31Adriatic Sea.
21:33Limestone rocks from the former continent started to change once they were under the
21:37European landmass.
21:39Tremendous heat and pressure, spread over tens of millions of years, changed their structure.
21:45Out goes the limestone, in comes the marble.
21:48All the Greek and Roman temples you admired on your summer vacation were constructed using
21:53this marble.
21:54It was sort of a going-away gift from a long-lost continent.
22:00Greater Adria camouflaged itself well for thousands of years.
22:04But other lost continents were hiding in plain sight.
22:07Have you heard of Earth's 8th continent, Zealandia?
22:11Probably not, because it sits under the surface of the Pacific Ocean.
22:1595% of Zealandia is now underwater.
22:18Can you guess where exactly?
22:20Its name is a good hint.
22:22Under New Zealand.
22:24If you open Google Maps, you can see its outline.
22:26Look for a lighter shade of blue in the ocean.
22:29It should stretch from New Caledonia to New Zealand.
22:32This bump in the ocean floor used to be above sea level.
22:36It was about two-thirds of Australia, and more than twice the landmass of Greater Adria
22:41in size.
22:42We can spot Zealandia today because it hasn't sunk too low.
22:47And that's the best way to discover other lost continents.
22:50Imagine the Earth without the oceans.
22:52The bottom of the sea isn't flat.
22:54There are mountains and trenches.
22:56You could put Mount Everest in the deepest of them, and there would still be 7,000 feet
23:01between it and sea level.
23:03This trench got so deep because of a geological process called subduction.
23:08The Pacific Plate got under the Philippine Plate.
23:12The crust is made out of those plates that float in a sea of molten rock.
23:17Then they bump into each other, one goes down while the other one rises.
23:21That's how Greater Adria ended up under the European continent.
23:26Our planet is constantly on the go.
23:28We don't notice this process because it happens deep beneath our feet.
23:32120 million years ago, Australia and Antarctica were a single piece of land.
23:38Yep, the coldest and one of the hottest places on Earth were once the same territory.
23:44Antarctica said goodbye to Australia, but it didn't leave empty-handed.
23:48Today, there is an oceanic plateau in the Indian Ocean.
23:52The word plateau comes from French, and it means elevated flatland.
23:57And the name of this land sounds like the title of a Hollywood movie, Broken Ridge.
24:02Long ago, it was connected to another lost continent.
24:06Scientists believe that it made a land bridge between India and Antarctica.
24:11What was this land like?
24:13The answer possibly lies in a tiny archipelago in the southern Indian Ocean.
24:18These islands are all that is left of an ancient landmass.
24:22They have a cold climate.
24:24The islands feature glaciers because they're so close to Antarctica.
24:28But in the past, the climate must've been temperate with plenty of rainfall.
24:32The animals and plants would've been similar to those that we find in tropical regions
24:36today.
24:37The lost continent's landscape probably resembled that of New Zealand.
24:43While we're in the area, can you guess which continent the island state of Madagascar once
24:48belonged to?
24:49If you guessed Africa, sorry, you were wrong.
24:52Hey, don't feel bad.
24:54Look up and to the right of the map.
24:56The correct answer is India.
24:58Some 120 million years ago, I wasn't around then, India separated from the African continent
25:04and went northeast.
25:06Madagascar wasn't quick enough and ended up as an island off the southeast coast of
25:10Africa.
25:12But there is evidence of an even greater landmass – the lost continent of Mauritius.
25:18Scientists found traces of the ancient landmass under the island of Mauritius.
25:22Today it's a tourist hotspot, but millions of years ago, it was a real hotspot – volcanoes
25:29and all.
25:30That's how scientists were able to retrace the steps of Mauritius.
25:34They found a mineral that exists in rocks, which lava spews out after an eruption.
25:39The long-lost land once covered the area from Mauritius to the west coast of India.
25:44Imagine if that land existed today.
25:46It would form a great mix of Indian and African cultures.
25:50The local dishes would definitely be spicy!
25:53Speaking of spicy, have you had Indonesian food recently?
25:57Just 50,000 years ago, Southeast Asia looked much different.
26:02There was no Sumatra, Borneo, Java, or even Australia.
26:06Just Sunda and Saul – two continental masses that were divided by a deep-water trench.
26:12You had the extension of mainland Southeast Asia on one side, and the Greater Australia
26:17on the other.
26:19Back then, Bali stood at the southernmost tip of Asia.
26:23Biologists were among the first scientists to notice the split.
26:27Species develop differently on Sunda and Saul.
26:30That's why Australia has unique animals, such as the kangaroo, wombat, and platypus.
26:36And did you know that a giant kangaroo once roamed the island of New Guinea?
26:40That's because up until the end of the last age, there was a land bridge to Australia.
26:46Today, the two islands are separated by the Torres Strait, but it's quite shallow – less
26:50than 65 feet.
26:52It's a reminder that this was once a single landmass called Saul.
26:58Another ocean strait that isn't too deep separates Asia from North America.
27:02The Bering Strait sits today in the place of Beringia.
27:06This ancient landmass wasn't that big.
27:08It stretched 1,000 miles from north to south.
27:11That's just a third of the driving distance from Los Angeles to New York.
27:16Beringia was important for another reason.
27:18During the Ice Ages, it connected the whole world.
27:22Water levels were 300 feet lower than they are today.
27:25If they went even lower, you could walk from the Cape of Good Hope in Africa all the way
27:30to Cape Horn in South America.
27:32Talk about the ultimate backpacking route!
27:35Today, you can hop on an airplane and fly to pretty much any place on the globe.
27:41The world has never seemed smaller, has it?
27:44Well, it has.
27:46Some 300 to 200 million years ago, we were all one world, literally.
27:51Pangaea was a supercontinent that included all of the continents.
27:55Its name is in Greek, and it simply means All Earth.
27:59But Pangaea started to crack up.
28:02The biggest gap formed between the Americas on one side and Europe and Africa on the other.
28:08Seawater soon started pouring in, and that's how we got the Atlantic Ocean.
28:12This process is by no means over.
28:15While you are watching this video, North America is drifting further and further away from
28:20Europe at the rate of 1 inch per year.
28:23Doesn't seem much when compared to the average human lifespan, but in the end, all the continents
28:29will reconnect with each other, forming a supercontinent.
28:33And it wouldn't be the first time in Earth history that this happens.
28:36Honestly, I'm not gonna wait around for that.
28:42Now at first glance, it seems like we're on a giant raft called a continent that's
28:47just floating around on some molten lava until it hits another continent.
28:53Okay, let's make a quick stop at high school science class.
28:58Our home planet is like a cake with different layers of ingredients stacked up on top of
29:03each other.
29:04The Earth's core, mantle, and crust.
29:07Hey, where's the frosting?
29:09The cake batter on top represents the crust of the Earth, made up of three types of tasty
29:16rock – igneous, sedimentary, and – say it with me – metamorphic.
29:21These rocks are formed in different ways, such as from solidified lava, or from the
29:26deposits of particles and minerals.
29:29The crust is what we stand on, a home to our continents, oceans, and everything we see
29:34around us.
29:36Then you have the mantle – not the baseball player – the layer that lies right below
29:41the crust.
29:42Many people think that the mantle is just lava, but it's not quite like that.
29:47Just like how you mix different ingredients in the cake batter, the mantle is made up
29:51of different types of rocks that are constantly moving and shifting.
29:56And finally, we get to the sweetest part of the cake – the center, or in the case of
30:01Earth, the core.
30:03It has two parts, the outer and inner core.
30:06The outer core is made of molten rocks and metals that are incredibly hot, even hotter
30:12than the surface of the Sun.
30:14The inner core is solid, even though temperatures there are crazy.
30:18It doesn't turn into liquid because the pressure down there is amazingly strong.
30:24When you see all this, you can easily think that below us there are endless miles of lava
30:29and hot rocks.
30:31So how come tectonic plates move at all?
30:35The continents don't float on a sea of molten rock.
30:38The oceanic and continental crusts really sit on a mantle.
30:42Sure, there's a layer of liquid rock in our planet, the outer core, around 1,800 miles
30:48below the surface.
30:50But it's separated from the surface by the mantle that's thick and solid.
30:55So the Earth's tectonic plates move around because they're on a thick layer of solid
31:01rock, the upper mantle.
31:03Basically, this rock is under incredible pressure and heat, which makes it flow in slow motion
31:09over time.
31:11Think of it like honey or syrup that you pour over your cake layers.
31:15As you move the cake around, the honey or syrup will also move and flow.
31:20Similarly, the upper mantle can flow and drag the parts above it along, just way slower
31:26than honey.
31:28And the rock is both breakable and flexible.
31:31It can crack and break like a cookie, now I'm getting hungry.
31:35But it can also stretch and bend like a piece of taffy.
31:39When the plates get caught on each other, they can't move anymore.
31:43But when they break free, they start drifting again, like puzzle pieces shifting around
31:48until they find their perfect fit.
31:51Extremely high temperatures and pressure are the reason this flow happens.
31:55It's like a big pot of soup on the stove.
31:58As the soup heats up, it starts to move around, carrying heat from one spot to another.
32:04Is it lunch time?
32:05And speaking of lunch, I mean lava, it's not just molten rocks that travel all the
32:10way up from the outer core to volcanoes.
32:13When tectonic plates come together and one slides underneath the other, they create a
32:19lot of heat and pressure while grinding against each other.
32:23It's like rubbing your hands together fast and they start to get hot.
32:27Or when you start a fire with rocks.
32:30And as the melted rock, or magma, rises to the surface, it can create volcanoes.
32:36Now long ago, the Earth's land was not divided into continents as it is today.
32:42Instead, there was one giant landmass, known as Pangaea, meaning all-Earth in Greek.
32:49Whoa, imagine being stuck in the middle of this giant ocean.
32:53So over time, this supercontinent slowly broke apart.
32:58Its parts drifted away from each other and formed the separate lands we call continents.
33:04This idea first popped out in the 16th century when one cartographer realized the coastlines
33:10of Africa, America, and Europe appear like they could fit together like puzzle pieces.
33:17Later researchers realized the rock composition of their coastlines was similar, which means
33:23they used to be part of one giant mass, and they call that the theory of continental drift.
33:29At first, people were pretty skeptical about that idea because they didn't know how such
33:34massive lands could move around.
33:37Now we'd all be able to explain that part, right?
33:41So the Earth's crust is divided into a couple of large plates and many smaller ones.
33:46All of them are still moving, even though it's in slow motion.
33:50We can't sense it, and we won't see any particular changes during our lifetime.
33:55It's a process that lasts hundreds of millions of years.
34:00As the plates move, they interact with one another in fascinating ways.
34:05For example, when two plates collide, one may be forced beneath the other, which would
34:10help create a subduction zone.
34:13Over time, this is the way you get many cool things like volcanic islands, trenches, and
34:19even entire mountain ranges.
34:22Plates apparently started moving around 3.5 billion years ago.
34:26It took them a while to group into the first jigsaw supercontinent we know about called
34:31Ur.
34:32Today, its remains make up parts of Madagascar, India, and Australia.
34:38Pangaea formed 335 million years ago, but it probably won't be the last continent
34:44that will form.
34:45So some new generations in the distant future could live on something called the next Pangaea.
34:53When the oceanic crust of the Atlantic Ocean slowly takes its place under the continental
34:58crust, the oceanic basin of the Atlantic is going to close, which is why the continents
35:04will end up pulled together.
35:06This means the Americas will meet Africa, and Eurasia will be flipped on its side.
35:12So people might live on a giant landmass in the shape of a ring, clustered around the
35:17inner sea, or at least what's left of it.
35:21Or maybe continents will take another direction and make up a different jigsaw puzzle called
35:26Amasia.
35:28In this scenario, the Americans will drift westward, fuse with Australia, and pivot to
35:33around Siberia.
35:35And then there's more.
35:37Novo Pangaea is the option where the Americas swing together to embrace Antarctica and Australia,
35:44and Africa legs off to the northwest.
35:47Basically, all continents here get together to form a giant landmass that stretches from
35:52one pole to the other.
35:54Ready for one more?
35:56Nah, come on.
35:57A recent projection called Aurica gives an idea similar to Novo Pangaea.
36:03It's just that all continents here unite to become one gigantic land that clusters
36:09around the equator.
36:10Hmm, maybe this would be my favorite one to live at, with the sunny weather and the beach
36:15all the time.
36:17And who knows what kind of magnificent trenches, mountains, islands, and other geological beauties
36:23we'd get with this giant supercontinent.
36:26Pangaea broke up about 175 million years ago.
36:30As the Atlantic and Indian Oceans began to widen towards the east, the Ring of Fire was
36:36formed.
36:37It's a path that goes along the Pacific Ocean with so many frequent earthquakes and
36:42active volcanoes.
36:44This way, Eurasia was unable to cross this border and continue moving westward.
36:49And now, Eurasia could move laterally along the Ring of Fire.
36:54The subduction zones kind of act like a barrier that forces the tectonic plates to move in
36:59different directions.
37:01So Eurasia could eventually collide with the Americas and form something similar to Amasia.
37:07It would be cool to sit there, grab the popcorn, and watch it from the side.
37:12But this is something that won't happen for the next 50 million years at least.
37:16I'm willing to bet I probably won't be here to see it.
37:20Different theories talk about different positions where this new supercontinent might end up
37:25one day.
37:26But it seems it will probably be somewhere in the polar area, centered on what we today
37:33recognize as the Arctic Ocean.
37:36Not my cup of tea.
37:37Bring me back the sunny one.
37:39Wait, scratch that, let's go eat!
37:43You could wake up in New York, grab a bagel for breakfast, hop on a train, and by lunchtime,
37:49you'd already be in London enjoying fish and chips.
37:52That sounds like every tourist's dream could be a reality soon.
37:58Right now, traveling between these two cities usually takes about 8 endless hours by plane.
38:04But a high-speed train zipping through a massive transatlantic tunnel could make the same journey
38:09in just 54 minutes.
38:12The plan is to construct this train beneath the Atlantic Ocean, so the stations would
38:17look like those trendy underwater restaurants.
38:20Not only would you get to Europe in record time, but you wouldn't have to deal with
38:23jet lag or feel sick from turbulence.
38:26So far, this mega-project sounds amazing, but can we really pull this off?
38:32Well, that's the million-dollar question.
38:34Actually, it's more like a 20 trillion-dollar question.
38:38That's how much this train and its futuristic underwater stations would cost.
38:42It's hard to imagine anyone having enough money to construct it, so specialists thought
38:47it was out of the question.
38:49But people started feeling hopeful again when Elon Musk dropped this announcement.
38:54He said not only is this kind of transportation possible, but his company could make it happen
38:59for a thousand times less than everyone thought.
39:04Traveling between New York and London in less than an hour means the train would have to
39:08hit a jaw-dropping speed of 3,000 miles per hour.
39:12Yep, 3,000.
39:14That's about five times faster than the cruising speed of a commercial airplane like a Boeing
39:19747.
39:20So, how is this even possible?
39:23Well, it's not an average tunnel.
39:26We're talking about a vacuum-sealed tube underwater, which cuts out air resistance,
39:31letting trains zip through at insane speeds.
39:34And it's not just any train.
39:36It's more like a high-tech aerodynamic capsule that levitates and moves thanks to magnetic
39:42propulsion.
39:43At least that's what experts think, since this kind of technology is already in use
39:47today with the fastest public train in the world, the Shanghai Maglev.
39:54This machine runs in China and hits a top speed of 186 miles per hour.
40:00What's crazy is that its locomotives are not even touching the tracks.
40:04They're literally levitating and floating just about 0.4 inches above the ground.
40:10This line takes people from Shanghai to Pudong International Airport, so travelers don't
40:15have to worry about traffic and can get to their flights super fast.
40:21This cutting-edge technology makes a 19-mile trip take just 8 minutes and 10 seconds.
40:27With a regular train, that same journey would be about four times longer.
40:33Back in 2001, people worked hard over two years to construct the Maglev train, and they
40:38also spent a lot of money, as the whole project cost over a billion dollars.
40:44Despite that crazy initial price tag, keeping this line running is not as expensive as it
40:49might seem.
40:51It's actually cheaper to operate than regular trains.
40:54Since the Maglev doesn't touch the tracks, that means a lot less wear and tear and way
40:58lower maintenance costs.
41:00On top of that, its propulsion system is impressively energy efficient.
41:08As we've already mentioned, this is the fastest operational train in the world, but
41:12China isn't stopping there.
41:14They're likely to break their own record soon, having already unveiled a prototype of their
41:18next generation train, the CR450.
41:23This sleek silver bullet had reached test speeds as high as 281 miles!
41:29If this project comes to life, I mean, if people really start using it on a daily basis,
41:35it will be a game-changer for high-speed rail, and it could shrink the journey between Beijing
41:40and Shanghai to less than three hours.
41:43That's like one hour less than what people take when traveling on today's high-speed
41:48train.
41:49Now, the team just needs to run a couple more tests to ensure it meets all necessary standards
41:55for commercial operations.
41:59This car looks like a Batmobile, and it's probably just as powerful.
42:04Say hello to the amazing Koenigsegg Jesko Absolute.
42:08This sleek, futuristic design isn't just for show.
42:11Every detail on this machine was crafted to cut through air with precision, reducing drag
42:17and turbulence while boosting its high-speed performance.
42:21Experts ran the first computer simulations, and the Jesko Absolute hit an astonishing
42:26311 miles per hour.
42:29But the team is positive that it can go even faster.
42:33This beast comes close to the cruising speed of small jets, and because of that, it smashed
42:39all records and became the fastest car in the world.
42:45When you visit the Coventry Transport Museum in England, you'll come face-to-face with
42:49a terrestrial vehicle that looks more like a rocket than a car.
42:54Meet the Bloodhound LSR.
42:56It's been on display since 2019, right after hitting 628 miles per hour during tests in
43:03South Africa's Kalahari Desert.
43:06But the team behind this vehicle isn't satisfied just yet, and they're 99% sure they can go
43:12even faster, so they're planning to bring it back to the track soon, aiming to smash
43:17another record.
43:19But there's a catch.
43:21The team is still looking for a fearless, skilled pilot who can handle speeds over 800
43:25miles per hour.
43:27And before you rush to sign up for the challenge, let me remind you, it's going to take more
43:31than just guts.
43:33You will need a major sponsorship deal too, because getting back this vehicle on the track
43:39and breaking that land speed record could cost around $15 million.
43:47If you're curious about the fastest jets in the world, look no further.
43:51Meet the North American X-15, a legendary aircraft that flew for nearly 10 years and
43:57set an unofficial world speed record of 4,520 miles per hour.
44:04This beast is so impressive that it actually reached the edge of space during its test
44:08flights in the 1960s.
44:10Yep, astronauts' territory.
44:13To put that into perspective, commercial airplanes, like the ones we fly in, usually travel at
44:18altitudes of up to 42,000 feet, but the X-15 soared more than 354,000 feet.
44:27Now, imagine flying faster than ever before, zooming through the sky at over five times
44:34the speed of sound.
44:35That's exactly what NASA did with this revolutionary aircraft, known as the X-43A.
44:43This airplane is scramjet powered, which basically means it's an engine that operates at a supersonic
44:49level.
44:50I mean, it doesn't have any moving parts like regular jet engines do, like turbines.
44:54Instead, it uses the plane's speed to push air into the engine.
44:59The air gets compressed or squished by the plane's fast motion, then mixed with fuel
45:04and burned to produce thrust.
45:07For non-experts, this might seem crazy, even dangerous.
45:11In fact, we should mention that the first flights of the X-43A weren't exactly smooth
45:16sailing.
45:17The initial attempt happened back in June of 2001, but the airplane was destroyed after
45:23the booster rocket went out of control.
45:25Thankfully, the second and third attempts were a huge success, with record-breaking
45:30flights that made history.
45:34I know elevators aren't the first thing that comes to mind when we think about super-fast
45:38means of transportation, but it's only thanks to ultra-modern high-speed elevators that
45:43skyscrapers as tall as the Burj Khalifa and Taipei 101 became accessible.
45:50One of the fastest elevators in the world is located in the Shanghai Tower in China,
45:55which has 128 floors!
45:58To get people from the ground floor to the top of the building quickly, the elevator
46:02has to move at an incredible speed of 67 feet per second.
46:06That's faster than Usain Bolt at his top speed, but just a little slower than a cheetah.
46:12Still, it is super-fast, about five times quicker than the elevators we ride in most
46:17buildings.
46:18So, if you're afraid of heights, speed, and tight spaces, we suggest you avoid going
46:23that far!
46:24That's it for today!
46:27So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your
46:31friends!
46:32Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!